


Finding Home

by RyuuMW



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Action, Assassin - Freeform, CIA, Chile - Freeform, Dark Past, FBI, Falling In Love, Fluffy, Funny, Lies, M/M, Police, Sad and Beautiful, Sarcasm, Sarcastic Stiles, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Spies, Strangers, Thriller, Violence, soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-09 07:59:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15262932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyuuMW/pseuds/RyuuMW
Summary: There is a lot that should be known about Stiles. He isn’t a simple man at all. His brain has the capacity to leave everything behind and just focus on the main target, calculating every single detail, projecting in his mind every singly route, every single bad plan and good plan. He has maps inside his brain; he is perhaps one of the few most calculated men out there. He can throw his knife perfectly with his eyes closed and he’d kill you if he’d want that. When he dissociates like this, in a mission, people witness the intensity of his eyes, nothing gets alive from those eyes, that look, those dilated pupils, he never blinks he just focuses. And he’s damn scary. He has a target, a mission, he completes it perfectly, even though he’d get hurt or he’d die. One time, he was in a mission in Teheran and he got stabbed 5 times in his back and he got 2 bullets in his left thigh and yet, with blood soaking his clothes, he managed to shoot a perfect bullet right through the target’s brain. Then he collapsed and the CIA went in and pulled him out of that mess. He still has the scars onto his body, and he doesn’t give a shit. He’d gladly take another 2 bullets and a lot more knives inside his body.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I'm back with another Sterek story!  
> This time is a more serious one and perhaps my very first AU fanfiction. I got really inspired by American Assassin and the ideas wouldn't stop so I grabbed my laptop and started to write this. It's not done yet, it's a long and slow story with a lot of real details about places and stuff.  
> Stiles is one of the best assassins/detectives from America and he ends up going to Chile to help the Chilean police with a strange as fuck case. I want to tell you more details from the start, but then i'd just spoil the story for you and it won't be fun reading it, sooooo, you'll find more details on the way. There are some OCs of mine because the situation asked for them, and ofc I had to develop the story in a way so i needed them. I hope you'll enjoy this, because i have so much fun writing it. Also it's a lot of dialogue because I feel like I can write that better. Uhm... this is it, more details I'll write when I post each chapter!  
> Enjoy reading!!!!!! <3 <3

‘You have the files on your desk. If you do something wrong and out of the legal ways… again… you’ll fly back to America.’  
‘ _Out of the legal ways_ … bullshit, if I hadn’t done that back there, your fucking agent would’ve been dead now.’  
‘You killed two guys, Stilinski! They were very dangerous and maybe if they were alive now, we would’ve had enough information to catch the whole cartel.’  
‘Two fucking useless guys who were about to kill your fucking men…. Also… it’s fucking _out of law_ , you piece of…’  
‘STILINSKI! Shut the fuck up and do your damn job, I’m sick of your shit.’ The General Director from Investigative Brigade of Human Trafficking (Brigada Investigadora de Trata de Personas) yells from across the hall. The tall man walks to his improvised desk and grabs the files and just leaves the hall.  
Stiles Stilinski is perhaps the only detective in the whole Chile’s police history that is hard to control, no matter what. To speak the truth, he isn’t even one of them, and yet they have to put up with his out of ordinary behavior.  
‘He’s a fucked up shit, but he’s the best with this kind of jobs.’ Julian, one of the inspectors from the Homicide Brigade in Chile, announced his co-workers before Stiles’ arrival. Julian was one of Stiles’ partners in America, where they worked on a similar case they’re working on right now.  
It’s his first time working in Chile. Is he nervous? He used to be nervous when he was 10 years old, but now, some of his acquaintances would say he lost his nerve cells and if those who got a bullet right through their brain or right through their heart from Stiles, if those guys were still alive after this major encounter with this man, they would’ve prayed to God to never end up being Stiles’ targets. Is he a detective? That’s what his papers say and that’s what his boss assures everyone, but he’s not some Hercule Poirot type of detective, but more of a detective with a little to huge twist, an assassin in the name of justice… or revenge… or whatever drives him crazy at night.  
The reason he’s in Chile is far more complicated than he expected to be. There is a team gathered in Valparaiso, in an abandoned building, they’ve settled there with their improvised office. The team consists of the most important people from three different departments: Investigative Brigade of Human Trafficking, Brigade of Criminal Investigation and Police Intervention and Anti-Narcotics Brigade, but beside people from all of these departments, there are a few others, two specialists from the Criminalistics Laboratory and also they keep in touch with Interpol National Central Office and others because this thing is greater than one layer of crimes. There’s been almost half a year since they got into this investigation, everything started with the discovery of three dead bodies, dumped in Maipo River. The autopsy of these bodies showed massive internal damages and also it showed that these three women, they were the bodies of three women, weren’t simple citizens, firstly they showed signs of small packages stuffed inside their stomach, a clue that alarmed the Anti-Narcotics Brigade, secondly, two of them weren’t citizens of Chile and also they were being searched through Interpol, they were two American citizens and the third woman was a Chilean. They rented the building and they just moved their office there and they kept on investigating and searching and following leads for almost a year. They were able to follow a lead that allowed them to send in two guys, to infiltrate in some sort of gang but with deep roots in what they call ‘drug smuggling’ and soon they found out they’ve been dealing with human trafficking. Julian is one of the two men that the police have inside the cartel. From him they found out that the big boss of this huge illegal business is quite of a legend, as in no one is sure that he exists, but everyone has heard at least a story about him, he goes by the name of Torres, maybe Marco Torres, Julian isn’t quite sure about ‘Marco’ but he’s definitely sure about ‘Torres’. No one has ever seen this man, the police thinks that Torres might be a woman too, they have no lead when it comes to Torres, but Julian assured them that Torres gives the orders around and he plans the smuggling and the transporting and every single move, along with his left hand, a weird and always on drugs guy, but everyone in the cartel listens to him and they do as they’re told to, otherwise, they’d wake up with a bullet in their leg and even worse, the cartel has a ‘punishment method’ and Julian is grossed by it. The police didn’t break in yet because they can’t, they have to go right to the root of the cartel and take everyone down with it, also they need to stop the cartel from using young girls for smuggling drugs and then killing them. They were on the right track when everything changed a week ago, and that’s when Julian called Stiles. It seemed that the other man had been exposed and the right hand of Torres took him away to the boss. Julian panicked and he had to be pulled out immediately. And this is where Stiles jumped in.  
The 30 years old man, whose life was a total mess, decides to help the Chilean police only because of his… maybe his only friend he has ever had since years ago. Julian is a young man, younger than Stiles and as long as they’ve been working together back in America, for almost one year and a half, Stiles got attached to Julian and Julian brought a little ray of sunshine in Stiles’ gray life. Julian was maybe… the brother Stiles never had… the brother he lost… either way, Julian was able to make Stiles a little more human, not too much, because when the soul has been in darkness for too long, the demons don’t leave that easily.  
Stiles packed a few things, between his guns and pistols and knives, he took his two precious gun holsters, he always has one around his waist, hidden under his clothes, and one around his thigh when he’s in a mission, not an infiltration, also he took the knife holster, which he always wraps it around his lower part of the leg, hidden under his pants.  
There are a lot that should be known about Stiles. He isn’t a simple man at all. His brain has the capacity to leave everything behind and just focus on the main target, calculating every single detail, projecting in his mind every singly route, every single bad plan and good plan. He has maps inside his brain; he is perhaps one of the few most calculated men out there. He can throw his knife perfectly with his eyes closed and he’d kill you if he’d want that. When he dissociates like this, in a mission, people witness the intensity of his eyes, nothing gets alive from those eyes, that look, those dilated pupils, he never blinks he just focuses. And he’s damn scary. He has a target, a mission, he completes it perfectly, even though he’d get hurt or he’d die. One time, he was in a mission in Teheran and he got stabbed 5 times in his back and he got 2 bullets in his left thigh and yet, with blood soaking his clothes, he managed to shoot a perfect bullet right through the target’s brain. Then he collapsed and the CIA went in and pulled him out of that mess. He still has the scars onto his body, and he doesn’t give a shit. He’d gladly take another 2 bullets and a lot more knives inside his body. _‘This man isn’t afraid of death. He saw it in front of his eyes and he threatened it.’_ Julian used to tell his Chilean colleagues when he came back from America.  
Stiles packed and took a flight to Chile. He settled in Valparaiso, in a peaceful neighborhood, on a very beautiful street, everything colorful. He isn’t used to it so he always frowns whenever he walks down the street to go and buy something to drink. The place he’ll be staying in for the next months isn’t a fancy one, but more of a strategic place. The apartment was on the last floor of the old colorful building, which has 6 floors in total, a lot considering the other buildings around. He can see almost everything from up there. Also he has the roof for himself, fact that made him thankful inside; _of course he’d never thank anyone for anything._  
In the very first few days he just crashed in his apartment, when he came back from the improvised building of the team. Of course he managed to find a track and in less than a week they found the other man and pulled him out, along with Julian, his friend. He went in and he had to kills two guys from the cartel, he didn’t want to at first but they were threating his friend and his teammate with a gun so he had to take the shot. He did it and yes, he made a mess and a fuss and perhaps this is the reason why things are peaceful for the moment inside the cartel and nothing moves.  
The files on his desk are really messy and a lot and it’s past midnight. He just grabbed those and got out. Julian runs after him and catches him right when he went out the building.  
‘Stiles, it’s ok, you know they’re just pissed off that you actually did something.’ Julian’s voice is soft and soothing, a little too thin than he remembers.  
‘Nah, it’s fine, J.’ Stiles places the files under his arm and he takes out a cigarette from his pocket and places it between his lips. Julian observes and he smiles, taking out the lighter and he lit Stiles’ cigarette.  
‘You idiot, you said you’d quit.’ Julian says.  
‘I wanted to… but…’ Stiles begins to say and Julian interrupts him.  
‘But you never quit.’ Julian whispers, between his smiling lips and they both laughed. Julian then goes in for a hug, a manly one and honestly he thought Stiles would fucking stab him between his ribs, but he didn’t, he awkwardly responded to the hug.  
‘Thanks, really.’ Julian mumbles.  
‘J, I did…’  
‘You did your job, I know, but still… I could’ve died out there. These guys… trust me, they’re not just simple drug dealers. Do they classify as criminals for killing people? I’m telling you, Stiles, these aren’t our type of criminals. I’ve seen a lot there. Heard a lot too.’ Julian explains and Stiles listens, enjoying his cigarette.  
‘I’m going to watch over these. Stay safe, J.’ Stiles finishes by waving lazily his hand towards Julian and he walks away.  
‘You too, Stiles… you too.’ Julian barely says and gets back inside the building.


	2. Chapter 2

Something feels odd about all of this, about the case, about the investigation, about the location, about everything. He gets up, inside his apartment and he decides to bring out a small and old wood table onto the roof. He places it under the full of stars sky, he brings his beer, his cigarettes and the files. If he wasn’t that careless, he’d enjoy the view and he’d be overwhelmed by the fact that the doors that are supposed to be the bedroom’s balcony doors are opening right to the roof top and honestly, that’s a breathtaking view.   
He starts reading the files. There is a lot of information, about the beginning of the investigation, about the proof they have until now, about the prints, the leads, the suspects, and every single detail. His eyes are used to these, so in less than one hour he went through the investigation’s files, now there’s one more file under all of these. And it has information about a certain man. He isn’t sure how he’s related to the case, but that’s because he stops to the first page, on which it’s attached a small glowing photo of this guy. He keeps staring and he doesn’t know why, he gulps and he shakes his head. He turns the page to read the actual information. Where it’s supposed to be the name written, there was just a letter ‘H’ and the age is estimated between 34-40. He keeps reading further and further and he finds out how this mysterious man is related to this whole bullshit. Mister H. was caught by the video cameras placed by the police around the area where the cartel does business. The video tape didn’t actually put him in a bad light, and yet he was considered a suspect in this case. Stiles takes a deep breath in and dials Julian’s phone number.   
‘Stiles… sleep, man, it’s 4am…’ Julian’s voice was husky this time and he was mumbling.   
‘J, tell me more about this H man.’ Stiles didn’t even hesitate. He cares less that he woke his friend up, he just wants to gather the information he needs to do the job and be done with everything. Also he can’t sleep. The nightmares don’t give him peace.   
‘Ugh… man, you’re something….’ Julian says and the sounds coming from his side let Stiles know that he got up from his bed. ‘Well, we don’t know that much about him, but he’s a suspect. And he’s dangerous.’   
‘Yes, he stabbed a man who was trying to rape a girl. That’s a super dangerous man.’   
‘You did your research, I see…’ Julian sounds a little pissed off, but he brushes the thought off.   
‘I had to, so… more details, please.’ Stiles tries again. There must be something about this man that caught their attention, beside how massive he is. Stiles’ body is well defined and he has muscles everywhere, but this man… Stiles dared to imagine himself next to him, and mister H is enormous inside Stiles’ mind.  
‘We think it’s… well….’   
‘Torres, you think this man is Torres?’ Stiles asks, sounding really disappointed.   
‘Yes.’  
‘By what aspect?’ Stiles asks.  
‘Well… don’t you think it’s weird of him being around right when the cartel has a mission, a transport to make, or to receive? He’s there, always. Walking around, or just trying to look like he’s part of the neighborhood’s landscape.’ Julian explains.  
Stiles scratches the back of his neck. Things are weird, but not this one. Stiles decides to put his doubts aside for the moment and he’ll try to find out more about this.   
‘I… let’s say I understand, it’s weird. But did he interact with any of you, or with someone from the cartel?’   
‘Not with me personally, but I was with this Pedro guy and he told me he has this hunch that he’s the boss, a while ago this H guys asked Pedro what they were doing there, and Pedro tried to act cool, just in case he’s Torres.’ Julian explains.  
‘I see… other details about H?’ Stiles asks again.   
‘We still don’t know where he’s living, we know he’s from this neighborhood, but that’s all. In the file you have the routes where he has been seen…’ Julian starts to talk.  
‘So you want me to find your man. And then what?’ Stiles sounds pissed off now. He feels, again, that something is completely wrong.   
‘If he’s the real Torres… we take him down. If not, he’ll become a witness.’ Julian tries to arrange his words.  
‘’I take him down, you mean. And sure, becoming a witness after being a suspect… great. So my actual mission is to catch your fucking man and then, if proven, to even kill him, right, J?’ Stiles breathes slowly.  
‘Stiles, it’s not that simple. We don’t need you to catch him. We need you to watch him, to use your capacity of reading people’s minds, faces whatever you’re doing.’   
‘You need me on surveillance.’   
‘Yes. You’re the best chance we have on catching Torres. I told you, these guys do a lot of dirty things and some of them are… way too dangerous.’ Stiles sighs.  
‘Ok, J. I understand, so I’m doing surveillance and…’   
‘If necessary, you’ll have to get closer to this man and find out things.’ Stiles buries his fingers through his hair.   
‘I know. Ok. I’ll keep the office updated.’   
‘You can keep me updated, using this phone, just if the things go wrong.’ Julian’s voice is soft again. Maybe Stiles does feel a little bad for waking his friend up.  
‘Then I’ll report this to you. I’ll do field work.’ Stiles jokes.  
‘When were you something else than a field agent?’ Julian teases him and Stiles smiles a little.   
‘Bye, J.’   
‘Take care, Stiles.’   
Stiles doesn’t go to sleep yet. He gets up and takes a few steps on the roof top. For the first time he pays attention to the view. He forgets to breathe for a few seconds. There are a few other buildings and he was so wrong when he thought this was the only 6 floor tall apartment block. There is another one right in front of this. This one doesn’t have a livable space on the roof top, like the one in which he currently lives, but it’s colorfully painted just like every other damn building around. He sighs and goes inside his bedroom and lets his heavy body fall onto the big bed. He sighs again while he tries to accommodate with the dim light.   
‘H…. H….’ He tries to find a name that starts with this letter, but he can’t…. a Chilean name… a Spanish name….   
‘Hugo…’ No, this sounds bad when he thinks of how this man looks. This name doesn’t fit the man’s features. And Stiles knows that everyone has a certain name and that name tells a lot about the person, as much as a face tells more than anything else. He falls asleep unconsciously, while trying to find names…


	3. Chapter 3

He doesn’t sleep a lot, he wakes up in cold sweat, breathing hard. It’s already sunny outside. He grabs his phone. It’s morning, 9am…. He gets up from the bed and goes to the bathroom, taking out his sweaty shirt and splashing a lot of cold water onto his chest and arms and face. His phone suddenly rings and he goes to answer it.   
‘Yes, sir.’ Stiles answers, there is the general director on the other side of the phone.  
‘Stilinski, did you read the files?’   
‘Yes, sir.’   
‘Any questions?’   
‘Can you tell me more about this H man?’ Stiles asks.  
‘We don’t know a lot, he seems connected to the cartel so we need a closer look on what he’s actually doing.’   
‘And you have at least his name?’   
‘Not really, just speculations. You saw the areas where he’s been seen, right?’   
‘Yes, sir.’   
‘You’ll work on field, Stilinski and you’ll try your fucking best to find out who the hell is this guy and if he’s…’  
‘If he’s Torres or if he has any illegal connection with the gang, my bullet will be in his brain, right?’ Stiles gest pissed off again. He is familiar, way too familiar with killing dangerous people, but in this case almost everything seems off and he needs to find what’s going on here. He is the best at killing, but that doesn’t mean he kills anyone without knowing everything about the danger. And this weird H guy doesn’t seem that dangerous. He might be wrong, but yet… when he was wrong? Never. But still… he sighs.  
‘Yes, Stilinski. This is a really fucked up shit and it’s huge.’ The director says.  
‘I understand.’   
‘Good, now get your ass out and try to find something.’   
‘Yes, sir.’ He says and hangs up. He throws the phone on the bed and he gets out on the roof top.   
‘Think, Stiles… think… think…’ He whispers to himself as he just leans onto the edge and looks around. In the sun his skin shines and his muscles look more intimidating than ever.  
Suddenly there’s this huge noise coming from outside, perhaps from the other building. By instinct, Stiles gets down, glued to the short wall. Silence, then again a few knocks and someone talking in what Stiles figured out it’s Spanish. He slowly gets up, looking around and then his eyes fix on a specific window on the building in front of him. This window is wide and it shows a lot of the room inside. It’s a living room, simple and Stiles needs to adjust his position to see better what’s going on.   
‘Hey, gatito! Eres un idiota.’ This is what Stiles hears and perhaps the only thing he understands. He doesn’t know what ‘gatito’ means but soon he’ll find out. He focuses his look better and there it is. A big white cat on the table and a lot of flower pots broken on the floor. He still can’t see the man well and he feels weird staring, but… he can’t take his look away. He gasps when the man goes out on the balcony. The man’s eyes meet Stiles’ and there’s the moment when Stiles realizes that he’s staring. He gulps and tries to find some Spanish words inside his mind.  
‘Uhm… Hola. Todo… uhm… Esta todo… bien?’ Stiles’ voice is unsure, but that’s because he didn’t speak Spanish for a long time and his accent is really really bad. And the man seems to acknowledge his bad accent because Stiles sees the man’s lips transforming into a grin.   
‘Hola, estás desnudo.’ The man says. Oddly enough, Stiles is too caught up by the realization of how close their buildings are. And the man’s voice sounds… Stiles can’t describe it yet. He feels odd.   
‘Que?’ This is all he can say. The man grabs onto his own sleeveless shirt and pulls it a bit.   
‘Oh! Fuck! Shit!’ Stiles gasps. He is naked. Well it doesn’t feel bad because it’s really hot outside and he doesn’t have reasons to be ashamed. After all he looks so damn fine without a shirt on, but this time, he feels his blood rushing through his veins. He’s embarrassed. The man raises an eyebrow and his eyes don’t leave Stiles’ presence.  
‘American?’ The man asks.   
‘What gave me away? My bad accent or my body?’ Stiles’ words come out before he could stop them. He gulps. This behavior of his… he stopped acting like this years ago. He sighs and closes his eyes a little. The man laughs.   
‘The swear.’ The man answers. Stiles feels like biting his tongue. That’s right. That gave him away.   
‘You’re new around here.’   
‘Yes.’ Stiles simply says.   
‘Are you free later?’ The man asks, smiling. Stiles frowns.  
‘I’m on vacation, I’m free anytime.’ Stiles answers. The man smiles again, this time slowly nodding.   
‘Just come over in a few hours. I’ll show you the true colors of Valparaiso.’ The man proposes and Stiles is confused.   
‘No drugs, don’t worry.’ The man says when he sees how confused Stiles is looking at him.   
Stiles doesn’t know what to say, how to react. This never happened to him in such a long time, maybe never if he thinks better.  
‘You’ll come? I promise I won’t… I’m not…’ The man struggles to find his words. Stiles thinks that this is because he isn’t used to talk in English.   
‘Don’t worry. I’ll be there.’ Stiles regains his mental balance and he answers. The man’s face lights up and Stiles is surprised.  
‘Can I ask you something?’ The man speaks again.  
‘Sure… sure.’ Stiles motions him to just ask.  
‘Can you wear a shirt when you’ll be here?’ Stiles can’t help but smile a little. He doesn’t know why he smiles, maybe because of the man’s weird English, or maybe because of what he says… he just smiles.  
‘Sure, I’ll try my best.’ Stiles answers and the man waves at him.  
‘I need to clean around… my gatito…’ The man explains and points towards the mess on his floor.  
‘Sure, sure, see you later.’ Stiles assures and the man waves again and goes inside. Stiles doesn’t move for a few minutes, still watching towards the man’s apartment, seeing his legs as the man walks around his living room cleaning.   
Stiles gets back inside his apartment and starts to unpack. Yes, he’s been here for almost two weeks but he didn’t feel like unpacking. But now he feels it’s the case to do it. He firstly unpacked his weapons. He hides one gun under the bed’s mattress, he hides another one onto a tall drawer next to the door, for easy access if needed, then he takes out his arrow knives and places them in a strategic place, also he takes out some of his push daggers. His leg holsters and waist holster are hanging under his jacket, in the hallway. He also has a sniper and he takes it out too. His clothes go inside the drawer, and by clothes, that means a few pairs of shorts and a lot of T-shirts. He brought a tuxedo and some trousers too and a few jackets. After all he’ll be staying here for a while.   
After he finishes unpacking and arranging everything strategically, he takes his wallet and goes out to do some shopping. The only big grocery store is around a few corners. He walks for 15 minutes. He buys cigarettes and he swears mentally because of how expensive they are here, he buys some fruits and a 6 pack beer. He won’t drink those by himself; he thought he needs to bring something when he’ll go to his neighbor.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooo! This is a longer chapter! Hope you enjoy! More to come soon! I hope you enjoy reading this!   
> Also let's get this clear, the H man is Derek, so from now on when you'll read about him just keep in mind he's Derek, soon his name (Derek Hale) will be revealed but for now... the plot requires that he should keep his name hidden ;)

He checks his watch. He keeps thinking of what ‘later’ means. It means 2 hours, 3 hours? He sighs and gets up from his bed and goes to the drawer. He takes out a new pair of red shorts and a plain black T-shirt. He changes; he goes to the bathroom and looks in the mirror, caressing his chin. His beard is messy and it consists of random hairs spread around his skin and moles and it looks as messy as his thoughts. He doesn’t get it. How his neighbor has a perfect beard? Hair by hair, no skin showing, no hair grown out, nothing. He sighs and he decides to shave. Fuck those random hairs, that’s not a beard, that’s just a mess. He shaves and he can’t look in the mirror without feeling like throwing up. He doesn’t look bad at all; he looks more handsome and clean. But his face without the facial hair reminds him of his past. He rushes out of the bathroom, he grabs his phone. He should call Julian and inform him, but he decides to post pone for tonight. He’ll call Julian tomorrow morning, or tonight, after he’ll be back in his apartment. He hesitates for a moment, looking at his holsters. Should he grab a weapon with himself? He definitely should, but he doesn’t, he knows how to fight and for tonight he is safe, also he’s not that far from his apartment. He takes the beer pack and leaves.  
He enters the building; it’s the same as his. He goes upstairs, on the last floor. The door is open and he decides to go inside, slowly, cautious, his senses in total alert mode. He walks past living room, there’s no one there, there’s a faint noise coming from the kitchen, Stiles thinks, and he walks towards it. Before entering, he reaches with his free hand onto the back of his waist but then he bites his lip and closes his eyes, fuck it, he didn’t grab his waist holster. He silently puts the beer on the floor and he pushes the door a little, just to be able to go inside without being heard. He’s ready to fight anyone and anything.   
‘Oh Dios!’ The man utters as he bumps right into Stiles and Stiles’ arm blocks the man’s neck, in a defensive move.  
‘Oh fuck, shit, sorry… sorry.’ Stiles mumbles and he takes his hand away and also takes a few steps back. The tall man swallows and places a hand onto his neck.   
‘You have pretty bold moves. Is this how you guys greet each other in America?’ The man teases. Stiles sighs relieved. His eyes fall on the man in front of him. Stiles forgets how to blink. The man was a little taller than him and his body was bigger than his, those muscles can’t compare to Stiles’. The man’s wearing a black apron and nothing to cover his chest…. Stiles is wondering if the man is wearing at least shorts… He frowns, trying to regain his senses. Stay focus, Stiles.  
‘I’m sorry, the door was open and I thought…’ Stiles tries to explain.   
‘It’s ok, I was expecting you to come later, but it’s fine.’ The man explains, slightly embarrassed. Stiles takes a few seconds before answering, to analyze the situation. He takes a deep breath in. The man is cooking… is he cooking for Stiles? Stiles sighs, he feels something inside his chest that he used to feel when he was a teenager and when he was on the verge of having a panic attack. He swallows and calms down.   
‘I can leave and come back later.’ Stiles manages to say. He teases the man and he hopes he catches it.  
‘You’re a funny guy, too funny for that face of yours.’ The man says and he goes back on stirring something.   
‘What does that mean?’ Stiles asks.  
‘You frown too much.’ The man explains and turns to face Stiles. He motions him to have a sit on the chair. The kitchen is exactly like his own, even the table looks exactly the same.   
‘I was born frowning.’ Stiles confesses. And there’s the laugh again, the man laughs and Stiles feels proud of making him laugh like that. He thought he forgot how to behave with other humans.   
‘Sure.’ The man says jokingly.   
‘I… I didn’t get to know your name.’ Stiles confesses, taking out his cigarettes from the pocket.   
‘Javier.’ The man says reaching his hand out.  
‘Stiles.’ _And you’re lying_ , Stiles wants to say but he keeps it inside, they shake hands. ‘Can I smoke?’ The man closes the kitchen door.   
‘Now you can.’ He smiles at Stiles.  
‘If there’s a problem, I won’t smoke. I don’t want to bother.’ Stiles explains.  
‘Oh, no, it’s fine, I smoke occasionally too, it’s just… the kitty, she’s sensitive so that’s why I closed the door, now it’s totally fine smoking.’ The man says and Stiles smiles a little. This man is no way dangerous. He can’t. Yes… he lied about his name. And Stiles figured it out only by looking at his face features when he said his name. But maybe he has an embarrassing name, or he doesn’t trust Stiles. Who would blindly trust a foreigner? Anyways, he’ll stay alert, just in case.   
‘You’ve shaved.’ The man observes, interrupting Stiles’ thoughts.  
‘Oh… yes, I did.’ Stiles frowns again. A man who pays attention to details, Stiles feels like he’ll learn a lot about this mysterious H man tonight. He still can’t believe how close to him the man is. He thought he’d need a few more days before finding him, but there they are, Stiles in the man’s kitchen, seeing that bearded face right in front of his own. He looks much better in person, than in that photo.   
‘You also wear a shirt.’ The man teases.  
‘Well, it seems like we’re even.’ Stiles points towards the man. His eyes become so widely opened. He lets the frying pan down.  
‘I am… so sorry. I totally forgot about this.’ Stiles feels that the man is getting anxious.  
‘It’s fine, you look good like this too.’ Good job, Stiles.   
‘It’s inappropriate to welcome your guests almost naked, while cooking and sweating.’ The man says.  
‘What are you cooking?’ Stiles changes the subject so the man can focus on something else.   
‘I told you I’ll show you the true colors of Valparaiso… well the true colors of Chile.’ He grins and Stiles sees his teeth… he looks down a little….   
‘Is something wrong, Stiles?’ The man’s voice sounds concerned.  
‘No, no! All good.’ He manages to look back at the man. ‘The true colors… go on, I’m all ears.’ All ears… and Stiles’ eyes fall onto the man’s ears and he can swear those are the cutest ears he has ever seen in his entire life. He feels his cheeks burning, he forgot how this felt.   
‘I’m sorry, I know it’s hot here.’ The man suddenly says, trying to open the kitchen’s windows more.   
‘What?’ Stiles is confused.  
‘You’re…’ The man says and points at his cheeks.  
‘Oh, yes, it’s hot. Well, everywhere in this country is hot.’ Stiles saves himself.  
‘You’re right, sometimes… it’s even hotter during the night, when it’s supposed to be cooler.’ The man says.  
‘Yeah.’   
‘So, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Chilean cuisine.’ Stiles shakes his head. ‘Good, so here you’ll be eating the most delicious Chilean dishes.’ The man affirms, being super confident.  
‘They are the most delicious because you cooked them… or?’ Stiles teases him.  
‘That is up to you to decide.’   
‘Fair enough.’ Stiles answers.   
The man begins to put the dishes onto the wooden table. As he’s placing each dish, he explains it.  
‘This is called _Pebre_ and it looks like salsa, but it’s more than that, especially because I’ve made it from scratch. It’s a little spicy so I hope you like spicy food. And this Pebre is served with warm bread, here, this is called _pan amasado_ , it’s freshly baked so be careful, it’s still hot. Here we have _mariscos empanadas_ , a dish with seafood, but trust me, it’s delicious. This is all I was able to make in such a short time…’ The man says, scratching nervously the back of his head.   
‘This is all you were able to do? Man… this is a lot.’ Stiles exclaims. The man is a little embarrassed and he goes to the fridge and takes out a bottle of wine.  
‘Do you drink wine?’ He asks taking two glasses.  
‘Oh shit! I brought some beer but I left it… next to your kitchen door.’ Stiles deflates.  
‘It’s ok! You didn’t have to.’ He sits down in front of Stiles and pours two glasses of wine.  
‘This is a very delicious wine, a Chilean Chardonnay and it goes perfectly with this food.’ The man explains and places one glass in front of Stiles.  
‘Take a sip.’ The man commands. And Stiles finds himself doing exactly what this man tells him to.   
‘Now hold it into your mouth for a few seconds, feel it.’ The man instructs. Stiles does as he’s told to.  
‘What it tastes like?’ Stiles swallows and he’s surprised.  
‘Wow… pineapple and… peach?!’   
‘Baked peach and also, lemon.’ The man smiles proudly.   
‘This is a good wine.’ Stiles says taking another sip.   
‘Yes it is.’ The man smiles back again. He takes off the apron. ‘I’m going to…’   
‘Sure, go, I won’t run.’ Stiles affirms smiling at the man. He smiles back and leaves Stiles alone for a few minutes. Stiles takes it as an opportunity to analyze the dishes. Damn, they look delicious. The man comes back and Stiles feels like it would have been better if the man would have remained shirtless, because now he’s wearing a really tight V neck T-shirt. Stiles hates this kind of T-shirts, but he mentally admits that on this guy, the V neck T-shirt looks way too good, illegally good. They smile to each other and they begin to eat silently.  
The man never stops stealing glances.   
‘Do you like it?’ He asks.  
‘You know, this is my very first warm dinner in…’ He stops.   
‘In…?’   
‘In years.’ He blurts it out and keeps on chewing. The man doesn’t dig into this matter and Stiles is thankful.  
‘I really hope you like it.’   
‘I love it. It’s really delicious and you need to show me from where you bought the wine.’ Stiles explains.  
‘Actually… those who produce this wine… are my friends.’ The man confesses.  
‘Really? Wow, that’s nice!’ Stiles is again surprised.  
‘They have a wine cellar, down in Malleco Valley. I can show you the valley.’ Stiles looks at him and their eyes meet.  
‘You cooked for me, you invited me in your house… and now you want to go on a trip… and all of these… with a stranger. Aren’t you…’   
‘You’re not a stranger.’ The man interrupts Stiles.  
‘What?’ Stiles focuses his look onto the man in front of him.   
‘You’re my new neighbor.’ He winks and Stiles smiles a little.  
‘You’re something…’ Stiles mumbles and drinks the left wine from his glass.  
‘I mean it, do you want to go for a few days to Malleco Valley?’   
‘Do you plan on killing me?’ Stiles jokes.  
‘You almost choked me in my own kitchen.’ The man fires back and Stiles has to admit, he has a good point.  
‘You’re right, you won’t kill me that fast.’ They laugh. But Stiles means it, no matter how well done this mysterious man is, he can’t put Stiles down.   
‘So…?’   
‘It’s fine with me.’ Stiles casually answers, maybe he’ll regret it but also he has to do this, not that he likes this man, but for the investigation. The man smiles widely again.  
‘What’s up with that smile?’  
‘I’m just happy you accepted.’   
‘Well, I’ve figured out you don’t have any friends so you’re ok with strangers around you.’ Stiles teases and the man rolls his eyes and smiles.  
‘I have friends, just so you know.’ He says, getting up and cleaning the table.  
‘I’ll believe you for now.’ Stiles gets up too and opens the door to take the beer. He gives it to the man and he places it in the fridge.   
‘Tomorrow morning?’ The man asks.  
‘Tomorrow morning… what?’ Stiles acts innocently.  
‘Malleco Valley.’   
‘Tomorrow… ok, sure.’ Stiles agrees.   
‘It’s a two hours long drive, is this ok with you?’ The man asks.  
‘As long as you’ll drive, sure. I don’t have my license with me. I don’t like to drive when I go overseas.’ Stiles explains, taking out another cigarette. He places the cigarette between his lips and he lit it.  
The man leans onto the kitchen’s counter top and takes a deep breath in, inhaling the smoke. There are a few inches between them.  
‘It’s ok, I’ll drive.’ He smiles. Stiles nods and there’s silence again, a peaceful silence and Stiles feels it through his pores. The man leans forward, closer to Stiles.  
‘May I?’ He asks pointing at the cigarette between Stiles’ lips. Stiles freezes for a few seconds then he takes the cigarette between his fingers and places it in front of the man’s lips. The man opens his mouth and catches it between his lips, and then his hand goes onto Stiles’ wrist, holding his hand in place as he inhales. He closes his eyes as he feels the smoke inside his lungs and mouth and frees Stiles’ hand along with his cigarette.  
‘Thanks.’ He whispers, his voice being raspy.   
‘No problem.’ Stiles plays it cool. ‘I should leave, it’s getting late.’   
‘Yes, and you’re living really far away, in a dangerous neighborhood, so you should hurry up.’ The man teases Stiles.  
‘Shut up.’ Stiles smiles and prepares himself to leave.  
‘I’ll see you tomorrow then.’ The tall man says.  
‘What time?’   
‘After noon, we’ll see.’ The man answers relaxed. Stiles nods.   
‘Just let me know when you’ll leave.’ Stiles jokes and gets out of the kitchen. The man follows him downstairs too.  
‘Mhm… also… are you sure you’ll be safe to walk that much to your house? I mean… it’s pretty far away and it’s late…. Should I walk you home?’ The man asks, grinning. His cheeks are red and that’s the wine.  
‘I’ll be just fine… and if something happens, you’ll go to the valley by yourself.’ Stiles says and waves his hand.  
‘I’ll let you know when we’re leaving.’ The man almost whispers and Stiles shivers. The man’s voice is somehow alluring and deep and husky and it scares Stiles’ ears but at the same time it caresses them.   
‘Perfect. Good night, thank you for the food.’ Stiles says politely.  
‘Anytime, good night, Stiles.’ The man replies.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, wonderful human beings! I'm back with another chapter!  
> I've been really busy, busy as in being the only bridesmaid and doing 100+ name tags from scratch plus two banners and the menus *lol*  
> I love this story and it's going to have more chapters.   
> Enjoy! <3

Good night, _Stiles… Stiles…_ The way he’s calling him by his name… Stiles finds it mesmerizing. He had a hard time back in the man’s apartment, because he wanted to call him by his name, but Javier isn’t his name and Stiles can’t use this fake name to call him. He takes off his shorts and T-shirt and he sits onto the bed, only in his boxers. He’ll force himself to sleep for a few hours. But before that, he grabs his phone. He decides not to call Julian, it’s almost 1am and he doesn’t want to wake up his friend again, so he just texts Julian a coded message, letting him know that he found the guy and he’ll continue his work field to find details. He lies down and breathes slowly, his chest going up and down in a steady and calculated movement. He plans everything out, inside his mind, before falling asleep. Tomorrow, on the road, he’ll ask a few questions and he’ll try to find more about this mysterious man. He still thinks this man is in no way dangerous, but still, for this trip, he’ll bring some weapons along, he doesn’t want to risk it. Also he decided not to tell Julian all the details about this man, because… again, Stiles feels that something is definitely off and until he finds out what’s going on, by himself, he’ll play his own game. 

 

He wakes up suddenly from a nightmare. He gets up and goes into the bathroom to splash some water on his face.   
‘Just a nightmare, Stiles, just a nightmare…’ He whispers looking in the mirror. He sighs and goes back in the living room, checking his phone. He has a message from Julian. His team mate assures him that he acted ok and that he should go on with the surveillance of this H. man. He checks the time. His eyes widen. Did he sleep that much? He panics and leans on the wall. All kinds of scenarios are playing inside his mind, did the man poisoned him? He gains all the strength left in his body and he checks the place. His guns and knives are in place. The signs he left behind aren’t touched, assuring him that no one was inside his apartment. He breathes in and out, slowly. Maybe he just got way too caught up in thoughts… and he fell asleep later. He stretches a little, his neck hurts like hell. He grabs some new clothes and goes to take a shower. It’s so damn hot so he decides to take a cold shower. After all he’s used to this kind of showers, when he was in the military he showered only with cold water.   
He gets out of bathroom fresh and fully awake, still having that god damn neck pain. He takes a clean T-shirt on him and decides to go out on the roof top to take a look around. Of course he takes a spare few minutes to check on his neighbor’s apartment, searching for any sign of movement inside. His surveillance is interrupted by knocks on his door. He rushes back inside. He leans to the door. Should he open it? He sighs. There’s no danger in opening his god damn door. Sometimes he hates his mind. He opens it and he’s struck by a gorgeous smile.  
‘Hey.’ The man said. And Stiles realizes he missed that voice. How can you miss something that you enjoyed a few hours ago?   
‘Hey there.’ That’s all Stiles can say in response. His eyes wander a little, and he observes the man more, in the sunlight. His dark hair, not too short falls above his ears, his perfectly trimmed beard shines in the sun, his well-defined muscles peek through the thin material that’s covering them…   
‘Oh shit, come inside, sorry.’ Stiles says, realizing he takes too long to analyze the man. He steps aside and lets the man walk inside.   
‘Wow, it’s almost just like mine.’ The man says, looking around.  
‘Yeah, I’ve realized that too, last night.’ Stiles confirms and walks behind the man. ‘But there’s something you don’t have, and I do.’ Stiles teases and the man stops suddenly and Stiles bumps into him.  
‘What?’ The man smiles at him.  
‘Follow me.’ Stiles says embarrassed and he walks in the front, having the man following him.   
‘You know… yesterday you didn’t have a shirt on you… now…’ The man says from behind. And now Stiles stops abruptly. But the man doesn’t end up bumping into Stiles. The young man turns around and pulls the shirt down, to cover his crotch area. His ears are really red.  
‘I’m… a mess, ok?’ He manages to say. The man smiles at him.  
‘It’s ok, you’re not completely naked.’ He says.   
‘Yes, thanks God.’ Stiles whispers and rushes to grab a pair of shorts. Great, the man saw him in his boxers. How can he be so careless out of a sudden? Stiles hates it, he hates this lack of ‘on point’ behavior. He needs to be more cautious, for fuck’s sake, he’s one of the most dangerous assassins that work with the cops and he… forgets to wear his fucking pants? He calms down; he doesn’t want to be way too pissed off.  
‘Now, can we go back on following you?’ The man says, amused. Stiles rolls his eyes and gets back on walking towards his bedroom then on the small balcony that gives access to the roof top.   
‘You know, I didn’t mind following you in your boxers.’ The man suddenly confessed and Stiles frowns, how can he take such comment? Should he laugh? Should he fucking kill him? Ok, he’ll ignore it for the moment.  
‘This is what you don’t have.’ Stiles exclaims, turning to face the man. He opens his arms, trying to catch metaphorically the landscape.   
‘Yes… it’s… breath-taking.’ The man whispers, but funny enough, his eyes aren’t on the actual landscape when he confesses this, but right onto Stiles, their looks locked for a few seconds and Stiles breaks the visual contact.   
‘I know.’ Stiles mumbles and he looks around. ‘You… you can enjoy the view. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to pack… so…’ Stiles tries to explain. He doesn’t lie about not packing for their short trip, but he really wants to get out of the man’s sight for a few minutes.   
‘It’s fine, we have all the time, I’ll wait you here.’ The man smiles and Stiles smiles back awkwardly and walks back to his bedroom.   
Stiles starts preparing his bag, he looks to see if the man is still outside and when he’s sure, Stiles packs a few knives and also he hides two pistols, one Kel-Tec PMR-30 and a Desert Eagle. He then packs some clothes. He feels the man walking towards him but Stiles doesn’t flinch, he just keeps on packing.  
‘You should pack a hoodie too.’ The man proposes, having his arms crossed and looking at Stiles.  
‘A hoodie? On this kind of weather?’ Stiles asks surprised. The man smiles at him.  
‘Trust me, you’ll need it where we’ll be going.’   
‘Are you sure you’re not going to kill me?’ Stiles teases and the man laughs.  
‘Stop, I have no intention to kill you, not physically I hope.’ The man teases again and Stiles feels weird. He grabs a shirt and throws it at the man, hitting him in his face, or that’s what Stiles thought, but the man catches it right away.  
‘Good reflex.’ Stiles mumbles, embarrassed. The man is amused by his new friend.   
‘Done, I packed everything.’ Stiles sighs and gets up from the floor.   
‘Good, the car is parked outside, let’s go.’ The man says and takes Stiles’ backpack.  
‘I can carry it myself.’ Stiles says, trying to take his backpack from the man.  
‘Stop being so cool about everything. Relax a little.’ The man says and Stiles’ arms fall down. He feels a strange knot inside his throat, he swallows and lets the man walk in front of him, outside. Stiles locks the door and they go down the stairs, in silence.   
‘Is this your… car?’ Stiles asks in awe. The car is actually more of a truck, a Toyota Tacoma, probably 2015, all black. The car looks used, but it still has that bright shining of a good car.   
‘Let’s see if it’s mine.’ The man takes out some keys from his pocket. ‘Oh look, it’s mine.’ He jokes and Stiles bumps in him with his shoulder, this time intentionally. They laugh.  
The man opens the passenger’s door for Stiles.   
‘Hop in.’ The man says excited, while looking at Stiles. Stiles throws him a weird look and he obeys. He gets inside and the man closes the door. He then places Stiles’ backpack in the back, next to his things and he gets inside the car too, on the driver’s seat of course.  
‘We need to stop at a gas station.’ The man explains while starting the engine. Stiles puts his seat belt and he looks towards the man with an eyebrow raised.  
‘What?’ The man asks.  
‘Put your seat belt.’ Stiles commands.  
‘I… fine.’ The man mumbles and now he obeys. Stiles is pleased with himself.  
‘You usually don’t wear a seat belt?’ Stiles asks, while looking at the man, he now can look at him more, thanks to him paying attention to driving.   
‘I usually don’t drive for long distances.’ The man explains, one hand on the wheel and another one on his own thigh. Stiles’ eyes travel down too and rest a little onto the man’s hand. He gulps.  
‘But this is a long one so you should wear one.’ Stiles manages to say, taking his eyes away fast, as they pull into the parking lot of the gas station.   
‘I’m wearing it for you now, so you can feel safe, alright?’ Derek says smiling.  
‘Shut up.’ Stiles mutters and the man looks him in the eyes.  
‘Stop being so tough, Stiles.’ The man says with a sweet voice then he gets out of the car, going inside the store, leaving a confused Stiles inside the car. Stiles starts over thinking again. Usually, when he over thinks, he does it to analyze every single option, but now it’s just plain and hurtful over thinking and he used to do this when he was a teenager, now… he doesn’t know why he’s doing it again. He needs to be tough. Actually, he doesn’t know how to stop being tough. These past 15 years he grew into being tough, merciless and cold. He walked alone on every path he took. He carries his burdens alone, he swallows his nightmares and he manages to live alone with his thoughts that always tried to kill him. How can he stop being what he’s been for so long? He never grew into liking someone enough to care about them more. Last time he did it, the persons ended up dead and he ended up with another bruise inside his heart. He grew into living mechanically. He grew into accomplishing the hardest missions, to serve a country that did him so much wrong, but when he lost everything he didn’t care anymore. He hates himself and he hates his face when he looks in the mirror because he’s a criminal. He doesn’t kill innocent people, but who gave him the right to kill someone? Oh yes, the training, the military, CIA, FBI… those gave him the right to do so. He lets a deep sigh and tries to regain focus when he sees the man coming back. He’s holding a bag in one hand and in the other two coffees, Stiles observes. He leans towards the driver’s door and opens it for the man, helping him with the stuff in his hands.


	6. Chapter 6

‘I bought some things for the road trip.’ The man explains with a tint of excitement in his voice. Stiles finds it so alluring and so interesting, how a man of this one’s size can get this excited for random and small things. Stiles feels the urge to find more about him, about his past, about what motivates him to smile so frequently.  
‘Road trip, that sounded fun when I was 5.’ Stiles jokes. The man frowns and hands Stiles a coffee.   
‘I…. it’s just coffee with milk, a little sweetened.’ The man explains, Stiles feels that the man is unsure of his decision to buy coffee for him. But oddly enough, that’s a coffee that Stiles enjoys, as he takes a sip from it.  
‘It’s good. I like it like this.’ He says and there it is again, the smile. The man starts the engine and starts driving. It’s going to be a long trip, but Stiles is sure he’ll find out a lot about this man.   
‘Thank you for the coffee, I didn’t expect you to buy coffee. I thought we went to the gas station to…’ Stiles begins to talk.  
‘Well, I’ve figured out you need one.’ The man says, keeping his eyes on the road.  
‘How exactly did you do that?’   
‘Uhm… it’s embarrassing.’ The man confesses.  
‘If you tell me you figured out by seeing my ass in boxers, I won’t believe you.’ Stiles blurts out and bites his lower lip, fuck it, Stiles. The man laughs.  
‘No… that’d be stupid. I… I knocked at your door earlier and you didn’t respond. And then I came back 30 minutes later. I thought you were out. But…’ The man is embarrassed.  
‘Yes, I was sleeping, I didn’t hear you.’ Stiles responds. He takes his hand onto the back of his neck and massages it a little, god damn this pain is amazingly frustrating. They stop at a red light and the man turns his face to look at Stiles. He catches the man massaging his neck and on the young man’s face he can read discomfort.  
‘What happened?’ The man asks worried.  
‘Fuck it, I think I’ve slept in a fucked up position or something, my neck hurts like hell.’ Stiles says frustrated. He never got any neck pain. The man leans forward and places his palm onto Stiles’ neck, making Stiles to take his own hand away.   
‘Turn a little.’ The man says and Stiles turns back a little. The man looks closer at Stiles’ neck and he caresses it a little, on a certain place.   
‘It’s… it’s green.’ Stiles says, turning to face the road again. The man turns back on driving and paying attention to the road, but his hand remains on Stiles’ neck. Stiles looks at him and he feels something is wrong. The man is frowning.   
‘Are you ok?’ Stiles asks, feeling embarrassed because the man’s palm on his neck makes him feel like it. The man starts massaging Stiles’ neck, and Stiles closes his eyes a little, damn it feels good he can’t deny it.   
‘Did you sleep a lot?’ The man asks.  
‘Actually yes I did… and…’ Stiles doesn’t want to say something like this, but he doesn’t know why he feels that he can tell this man everything. ‘I never sleep much.’ Stiles whispers. The man’s hand is still caressing softly Stiles’ neck then it brushes gently Stiles’ hair and the man takes his hand away from Stiles.  
‘Perhaps that’s why… it hurts like this. You’ve slept more than usual.’ The man explains. Stiles nods.  
‘Perhaps.’ Stiles makes himself comfortable in his seat.   
‘So, these friends of yours… are they criminals?’ Stiles asks.  
‘Stiles, my friends aren’t criminals, I am not a criminal.’ The man slowly explains.  
‘We’ll be staying at them?’ Stiles asks and he feels odd using ‘we’. 15 years there was only ‘I, me, myself, you, they, them’ but never ‘we’.   
The man smiles widely.   
‘Sure.’   
‘Why are you smiling?’ Stiles asks.  
‘Nothing, you’re funny when you’re that serious.’ The man says and Stiles looks away, to the window. He smiles too.  
‘Tell me more about you.’ Stiles proposes.  
‘What do you want to know?’ Stiles breathes in. The man continues. ‘Ask me anything.’   
‘Ok. I’ll do it.’ Stiles says. The man laughs.  
‘Well, do it.’   
‘How… old are you?’ Stiles asks, what a stupid question.   
‘How old do you think I am?’   
‘Do I look like a psychic?’   
‘You look like someone who knows what’s up with people.’ The man says, catching Stiles off guard. He gives in.  
‘I think you’re older than me.’ Stiles starts saying, looking at the man, analyzing him again.   
‘I don’t know how old you are so…’ the man holds in a smile.  
’30… soon.’ Stiles whispers. Soon as in a few days, but the man doesn’t need to know this. If it would have been possible, Stiles would have forgotten his birthday. He wanted so badly to stop knowing when he was born.   
‘Do I look… older with a few years… or with a lot?’ The man asks smirking.  
‘You look wow.’ Stiles blurts out and he closes his eyes, wanting to die.   
‘Is that a number?’ The man teases.  
’35?’ Stiles whispers.  
‘Close.’   
’40?’ Stiles jokes.  
‘You wished.’ The man teases back.   
’36.’ Stiles says. The man looks at him.   
‘That’s correct.’   
‘And what is doing for a living a 36 old man?’ Stiles asks.  
‘Do you want me to be serious?’   
‘Uhm, yes.’ Stiles frowns.  
‘Good, because I wanted to say I’m a criminal.’   
‘Fuck you.’ The man smirks again and this time Stiles catches it.  
‘So?’   
‘I paint and besides this I own half the production of the wine you drank last night.’   
‘No way! You’re fucking with me.’ Stiles turns all the way to face the man.   
‘I’m not actually, though…’ The man says laughing.   
‘Wait, wait. Tell me more about it. So these friends… this place we’re going to, is actually yours?’   
‘Not all of it, but yes, we’ll be staying at my place.’ The man explains.   
‘And you paint?’   
‘Yes. I do, my studio is actually in your building, in the basement.’ Stiles is shocked. Imaging this man painting… again, he being a suspect in all this drugs and murders shit doesn’t fit. Also imaging the man painting…   
‘I’d like to see you painting.’ Stiles confesses out of a sudden.   
‘When we’ll go back. I’ll show you my studio.’   
‘I can’t believe it… you own that? Wow, man…’   
‘And you didn’t see the best part yet.’ The man says.  
‘Do you mean there’s something more than your perfect beard and the fact that you fucking own a wine valley?! And you also paint…’ Stiles sighs.  
‘Perfect beard?’ The man asks.  
‘It looks like you trim it geometrically correct.’ Stiles confesses. The man laughs so damn hard.  
‘You’re something…’ he whispers. ‘What about you, Stiles, what are you doing for a living back in America?’   
‘Pretty much nothing that can compare to what you’re doing.’   
‘Hit me with it.’   
‘I own a construction company; I do a lot of papers and management stuff, boring as fuck.’ Stiles takes his fingers through his hair, leaving it really messy and way too sexy.  
‘I bet your employees fear you.’ The man teases.  
‘I hope not, but the truth is I’m a little tough with them.’ The man raises an eyebrow.  
‘A little?’   
‘Fine, I’m super fucking tough, alright?’ Stiles exclaims. They both laugh. Stiles feels something he never felt before. He wants to tell this man the truth, he wants it badly. He still didn’t figure it out why does he feel like this towards this man, after all he doesn’t even know his real name… Stiles frowns.   
‘Why are you frowning now?’ The man asks.  
‘Pay attention to the road, not to my eyebrows.’ Stiles mocks.  
‘Why Chile?’ The man asks.  
‘I wanted to go away for a little bit.’ Stiles whispers. The man nods.   
‘I’m glad.’ He says suddenly.  
‘You’re glad… what for?’   
‘I’m glad that you chose to come here.’ The man smiles.  
‘Now I’m glad too, that I came here.’ Stiles finds himself saying this. The teenager Stiles would blush and panic until now, but Stiles feels relieved that he can control himself.  
‘Any more questions? We’ll arrive soon.’ The man asks.  
‘And what? Do you have some rules there, so I won’t be able to ask you more questions?’ Stiles asks. The man stops the car surprising Stiles.  
‘I have no rule back there.’ He says looking at Stiles, smiling.  
‘Why did we stop?’ Stiles asks, looking through the window. They are in the middle of nowhere, next to a forest. He cautiously placed his hand behind his back. Fortunately this time he has the waist holster on him, he made sure to wear it. He has a knife, but it’s good enough in any case of what it will happen.  
‘What if I’m actually a criminal?’ The man says, relaxing in his driver’s seat, but keeping eye contact with Stiles. Stiles swallows and the man smiles at the small and innocent gesture.  
‘You aren’t.’ Stiles barely says.  
‘Let’s be honest, Stiles.’ The man says and Stiles freezes. ‘Let’s be really honest, I’d make a really good looking criminal.’ He says before bursting out in laughter. Stiles sighs and closes his eyes.   
‘Fuck you, man.’ Stiles frowns and he has his arms crossed now, looking really upset.  
‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. You’re really…’ The man stops a little.   
‘I’m really what?’ Stiles throws back.  
‘You make me want to see your reactions on everything.’ The man confesses, staring the engine again.   
‘You’re an idiot, you know that?’ Stiles says, not looking at the man.  
‘I didn’t know you get scared.’ The man teases. Stiles wasn’t scared. He is cautious and he hates it whenever he has to kill someone.  
‘You don’t scare me.’ Stiles says, looking at the man, observing that they are driving right through the woods, on an off road. ‘Did we arrive?’   
‘Not yet, there’s a 10 km road through the woods and then we’re there.’ The man explains.   
Stiles looks outside, observing the landscape. It’s wonderful, good thing it’s not way too dark because Stiles can swear this place is frightening as fuck during the night.   
‘Will we be all alone in… ’ Stiles says and stops. What kind of question is this? Jesus, Stiles.   
‘It’s my cabin, Stiles. I built it with my bare hands.’ The man explains and Stiles isn’t surprised, his eyes fall on the man’s arms, those are really strong arms.  
‘Ok, not literally, I used materials and…’ The man smirks, observing that Stiles is staring at his arms.  
‘Fuck, I know, ok? Stop teasing me.’ Stiles says turning his look away. He smiles for himself a little. His heart does some skips that Stiles never felt until now. It’s weird but he feels good for the first time in 15 years. He feels safe, even though he barely knows something about this man… He feels that he has good intentions to hide what he’s hiding.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooo! A fresh chapter! Also we have photos! This is an actual cabin in Chile, around the wine valley I keep talking about, somewhere near Valparaiso. *lol*   
> I hope you enjoy this story. More chapters to come and then i'll hop on writing small stories, oneshots trying to do a challenge. We'll see if i'm able to keep up with it!   
> Enjoy reading and thank you so so much for kudos and hits!

‘And we’re here!’ The man says excited, as he pulls in front of a wonderful cabin. ‘I’ll move the car after we take out the backpacks.’ The man explains looking at Stiles. Stiles gets out and the man follows too.

‘Wow… this is it? This looks…’ Stiles places his hands onto his own hips and he looks around him and then at the cabin.

 

‘This is the main one.’ The man confesses as he grabs his backpack along with Stiles’ backpack from the car.

‘The main one?’ Stiles is surprised also he observes that the man has his hands full with his backpack too so he tries to grab it from him.

‘Stop, go grab the bags, I carry these.’ The man says smiling as he sees Stiles’ frowning face. Stiles obeys and he grabs the bags. There are a lot of bags.

‘What did you bring, man?’ Stiles whispers as he’s fighting with the bags, to hold them all. The man laughs at him.

‘Follow me.’ He says and walks up the few stairs in front of the cabin’s door and then he enters. ‘The kitchen is to the left, place those bags there.’ Stiles is mesmerized but he obeys again. This is too beautiful. It’s not fancy, nor fashionable designed, but it feels like home, and it’s way too cozy and Stiles knows he’s going to miss it after they’re done with this.

‘Shit, did you wait me?’ Stiles asks worried, walking out of the kitchen and seeing the man waiting in front of the stairs that perhaps go upstairs, to the bedrooms.

‘Well, you’re on my territory. I should at least show you everything once, before you can wander around by yourself.’ The man licks his lips then smiles. Stiles finds himself staring awkwardly.

‘Ok, you’re right.’ Stiles exhales.

‘Good, follow me.’ The man commands again and he starts going up stairs. Stiles follows him and damn, he needs to keep the distance, even the man’s back is well defined and Stiles has a hard time not to stare at… everything in front of him.

‘There’s one problem.’ The man says.

‘What is it?’

‘I… didn’t finish the second bedroom, so there’s just one that has everything.’ The man explains, as the stairs end and they find themselves in a small hallway with three doors. ‘This is the unfinished one, then there’s the finished bedroom and next is the bathroom.’ He explains then opens the bedroom’s door and goes inside. Stiles follows. The man puts down the backpacks.

‘This is beautiful.’ Stiles finds himself confessing, looking again around him. The bedroom is quite spacious, it has a wall covered with a big wardrobe that has doors covered in mirrors and Stiles takes a mental note to tease the man about this. Also in front of the wardrobe there are two beds. The one next to the window is a one person bed and the other one is a bigger one, a double one, between these two beds there is a beautiful night stand made out of wood, of course, everything is made of wood.

‘It is. You can use everything, also you can arrange your clothes in the wardrobe, I have my clothes there but there’s enough space for yours.’ The man says and he is slightly embarrassed and surprised by his own words, Stiles knows the feeling.

‘What’s up with all these mirrors? Do you like looking into them in the middle of the night?’ Stiles teases and he goes in front of the wardrobe, touching the doors but without opening them yet. He’s not aware that the man walks behind him, until he sees a huge silhouette in the mirror and he realizes how close the man his. He reaches his hand that goes right past to Stiles’ face and he opens the door.

‘Unpack, Stiles. And don’t worry I sleep in the middle of the night, I’m not looking into these mirrors.’ The man explains smirking, while Stiles takes a few steps back.

‘Good to know.’

‘So this is all yours.’ The man says, pointing at the whole bedroom.

‘What? No, what about you? There are two beds.’ Stiles says. He sounds a little desperate and he bites his bottom lip unconsciously.

‘It’s ok, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I’ll sleep in the living room, downstairs.’ The man smiles. And Stiles can’t agree on this one. Ok, it’ll be kind of weird to sleep with him in the same room, but a part of him is excited and also he peeked inside when he was downstairs and he knows that the living room is connected with the kitchen and ok, the big couch looks comfortable, but seriously, there are two god damn beds. They have plenty of room.

‘You don’t make me uncomfortable. I’d feel safe knowing you in the same room as me.’ Stiles confesses and he realizes that this has multiple interpretations. But he means that if the man is with him in the same room, Stiles would be able to keep an eye on him better and also he can protect himself better, knowing where his neighbor is. This is what he meant.

The man approaches Stiles. He has one hand inside the jeans’ pocket and the other one goes onto Stiles’ deltoids and then slowly goes down onto his triceps, gripping it lightly.

‘Safe? You can protect yourself pretty damn well with these muscles.’ Stiles feels so weird. He doesn’t react. And the thing is… by now, anyone who would touch him in any way, would’ve been rewarded with a broken arm and maybe, even worse. But Stiles doesn’t do anything. He just freezes, looking at the man in front of him.

‘I mean it… there are two beds, I’ll take the small one if you want, for me it’s perfect as it is.’ Stiles rushes. The man takes his hand away and rushes his fingers through his long hair.

‘Ok, but if you feel uncomfortable, you’ll tell me, ok?’ The man asks.

‘Fine, I’ll tell you.’ Stiles manages to smile.

‘Good, also you’ll take the big one, and I’ll take the small one, after all you’re my guest, I need to pamper you a bit.’ The man says and Stiles laughs. They both laugh. Stiles can get used to this kind of presence.

Stiles unpacked his clothes when the man went downstairs. He looked around the room, then he placed his clothes inside the wardrobe, close to the man’s. His hand briefly touched those clothes and he shivered, taking his hand right away.

‘Stiles!’ The man calls Stiles from downstairs. ‘Come down, please!’ He continues and Stiles goes downstairs.

‘Yes?’ Stiles says way sweeter than he intended to, while peeking inside the kitchen. Peeking is much said, because the kitchen is connected with the living room. Stiles goes closer and he looks around the kitchen better. He went inside when he left the bags, but didn’t pay too much attention. This is one of the cutest and comfortable kitchens he has ever seen, especially because it’s made from wood and the big windows show the nature outside.

‘What was that?’ The man asks smiling.

‘Nothing, what is it?’ Stiles asks, avoiding the man’s look.

‘Well, I wanted to ask you something.’ The man confesses.

‘Sure.’ Stiles responds and leans to the wall, looking at the man.

‘It’s quite late and I want you to see the valley during the day.’ The man starts explaining.

‘Why? Do you think I’m afraid of going in the dark with you?’ Stiles interrupts without thinking and he mentally curses himself.

‘Not at all, but out there, during the night there are wild animals. As much as I love nature, I don’t want to risk it… with you around.’ The man softly says and something in Stiles shivers again. This is the second time. The first time was in the car, when the  man wore the seat belt only to make Stiles feel safe and now this. Stiles controls his heart beats and talks again.

‘Oh, ok. Got it.’ This is all he can say.

‘But, this doesn’t mean we can’t go swimming later.’ The man says smiling widely, surprising Stiles again with that radiant smile. Stiles frowns.

‘Swimming? During the night? Aren’t wild… things in water too?’ Stiles says sounding funny, just like he sounded when he was a teenager. He finds it cringe worthy and frowns more.

‘Not really. The lake is closer to the cabin and it’s safe… I always go there at night because… the water is warmer.’ The man explains and Stiles catches him blushing a little.

‘You really like nature.’ Stiles blurts out. The man nods embarrassed.

‘Ok, but you won’t get to drown me.’ Stiles teases. But honestly, it’s true. Stiles knows how to swim… in any circumstances because life taught him so, and his missions of course.

‘Don’t worry, I don’t want to drown you.’ The man says, winking.

‘Did you unpack?’ he continues, starting to move around the kitchen taking out some pots and bowls and utensils.

‘Kind of.’ Stiles almost whispers, he is too concentrated on the man moving around so casually taking out things and he feels… he feels something.

‘Kind of?’ The man stops and looks at Stiles and only now Stiles realizes what he said and that he was staring.

‘I mean… yes, I did put my clothes next to yours.’ Great job.

‘Good. How’s the idea of having a BBQ before going to swim?’ The man smiles.

‘Oh, shit, that’s why there were so many grocery bags.’ Stiles realizes.

‘Yes… indeed, Stiles. So?’

‘Sure, of course, I’d love to.’ Stiles is blown away.

‘But you’ll have to help me, I’m not quite good at cooking a veritable American BBQ.’ The man confesses. Stiles goes to the fridge to look inside.

‘Well, man… I’ve never…. I forgot when was the last time I had a BBQ.’ Stiles says with sorrow in his voice. Suddenly he feels a palm onto his shoulder.

‘It’s perfect. We’ll try and cook together. We can grill some meat, right?’ The man says and Stiles is thankful. He still doesn’t know why this stranger makes him feel… safe… and… Stiles stops his thoughts before going into a three hours of analyzing when there isn’t the case. He brushes it off.

‘That’s right.’ Stiles answers and turns around to see the man’s smiling face. Stiles doesn’t know if this smile annoys the hell out of him or if he wants to see it every day.

The man takes the bowls and pots and the utensils outside and Stiles follows him, holding a bag of coal for the fire. The man gave it to him to hold. They went outside through the back of the cabin and Stiles gasps. It’s again… cozy and beautiful and everything made of wood and it gives off such relaxing vibes. Stiles chokes on air a little bit thinking of the end of this Chile mission and how… on top of his nightmares… there’ll be ‘what if’s’ and thoughts about this cabin… about this man… about everything that slowly happens. He can feel the pain already and his heart’s trembling. He hates himself more than anyone else, especially in this kind of moments.


	8. Chapter 8

 

‘Man… I don’t understand why you don’t live here.’ Stiles tries to get himself together and asks.

‘I… I just come here to relax and… I plan on moving here… but…’ The man gulps a little, he’s uncomfortable. Stiles senses it.

‘Oh, the studio and everything with the second artist life you have…’ Stiles points out and the man’s face brightens.

‘Yes… I feel… uneasy to just… move everything I’ve built there… here.’ He explains as he grabs some firewood, already chopped and beautifully arranged in a wood holder on the terrace. Stiles tears open the bag of coal. Together they start the fire, they hi5 and laugh.

‘You really love painting.’ Stiles says holding the bottle of beer the man hands him.

‘Yes… it’s…’ The man begins to say, but he looks pained.

‘Look, it’s ok. If you feel like there’s something…’ Stiles wants to assure the man he can trust him, ironically, but he’s being honest. He is sure this man has nothing to do with the crimes, with the drugs and cartel and he can’t be Torres, and Stiles won’t tell Julian anything of this. Because Stiles trusts his guts and he knows things aren’t as clear as they should be.

‘No, no, it’s ok, I just… I found a quiet place in art and… it’s my shelter… I have nothing besides that…’ The man takes a sip of beer and then he stretches a little, trying to hide away the nervousness. Stiles’ mouth is open. He wants to know everything about this man. He wants to know his name, so he can be able to shout it, to sooth the man by calling his name, he wants to know why he needed a refuge, a shelter and he wants to know what damage he’s carrying inside his heart that made him say he has nothing else than that. Stiles blinks and tries to come up with something funny so he won’t make the man feel more uncomfortable.

‘What about your… kitty? Don’t you think she’d get mad knowing that you said that?’ Stiles jokes and brushes his shoulder onto the man’s shoulder. The man smiles at Stiles and Stiles feels weak for the first time in so many years.

‘She’s lovely.’ The man says smiling.

‘I bet she is.’ Stiles says looking at the man.

They soon have to prepare the meat for the grill and they work so well together, one brings the meat and the spices onto the table, outside, the other prepares the meat and then after they put everything on the grill, along with some tomatoes, some eggplants and red peppers, while some potatoes wrapped in a foil go inside the fire, they sit down at the wooden table on the terrace. It’s almost dark outside, being around 9pm. The table is all set, with forks, knives, plates, a bowl of salad made by the man himself and two glasses for the wine, of course they’ll drink wine, the man’s wine. Stiles still can’t believe that the man owns half of this huge valley and of course the wine production.

‘It’s getting dark.’ Stiles says and the man smiles widely again, going up from the table and leaning with his hand inside the house, trying to find a switch.

‘Jesus… you’re always smiling so wide…’ Stiles mutters, but the man hears him.

‘I hope you’ll smile more too.’ The man confesses and just then the terrace becomes bright, not too bright though. There are more than a thousand of small light bulbs around the edge of the terrace and onto the edge of the terrace’s roof and it looks like a fairytale. Stiles is surprised and amazed. They look at each other and the man gives Stiles a look.

‘Whaaat?’ Stiles whines a little.

‘Come on, do it.’ The man proposes. Stiles rolls his eyes then lets out a smile.

‘Happy?’ Stiles asks between his smiling lips.

‘Yes.’ The man confesses and gets back on checking the BBQ. ‘These are ready, bring me the bowls.’ The man commands and Stiles does it. He goes next to the man.

‘This is beautiful. You’re the romantic type, aren’t you?’ Stiles asks.

‘What? Why?’ The man asks, concentrating on grabbing the meat and the vegetables from the grill.

‘The lights… cooking… you’re an artist, you paint… I bet women love you.’ Stiles bites his lower lip. He feels like a teenager and he’s not too proud of that time of his life. The man laughs. He’s done with putting everything in bowls and now they get back on their seats, around the table.

‘Actually…’ The man pauses a little and Stiles is hoping for the right answer. ‘Women love me… but… honestly… I’m bad… at this.’ The man stutters and Stiles smiles a little, it’s not the best answer, but it’s somehow satisfying. They begin to eat and they keep on talking, it seems like both of them want to know each other more and the conversation is more than welcomed.

‘What about you, are you lucky when it comes to women?’ The man asks, paying attention to Stiles’ lips as they move when he talks. There’s something magical about those lips. Stiles doesn’t have to think too much, because he tells the truth when it comes to this part.

‘I’m not that lucky...’ Stiles begins to say and sees the man’s sad look and decides to confess further. ‘I’m not lucky when it comes to women… or to men.’ Stiles licks his lips and takes a sip out of his glass full of wine. He doesn’t lie. There are plenty of reasons to why he has never dated seriously these past few years. It’s a simple answer, he didn’t focus on that. He didn’t need another person to care for, then to lose her or him; he has lost enough to just go on again and again. He admits there were a few one night stands with both women and men and he more or less enjoyed those, he enjoyed those because he didn’t have to care enough for them, he didn’t have to get attached to them so then they’d die in his arms.

‘I understand.’ The man interrupts his thoughts and smiles at him. Stiles smiles back.

They ate in silence and after they cleaned around, they went upstairs in the bedroom to prepare for a night swim.

‘We did a pretty good job with the dinner, right?’ The man winks at Stiles.

‘Yes, we did. You’re really proud, aren’t you?’ Stiles teases and he is startled by Derek taking off his shirt and throwing it into his face.

‘Yes, in fact, I am.’ He smirks. And wow, Stiles looks at the man intensely. That’s a perfect sculpted body right there.

‘Stiles?’ The man asks, smiling.

‘Yes, yes.’

‘We’re still going to swim, aren’t we?’ The man asks, going closer to Stiles.

‘Yes, we are.’ Stiles gulps. He tenses a little when the man’s hand goes closer to Stiles’ waist and tugs at Stiles’ shirt.

‘Then take this off. We won’t swim with our shirts on and it’s quite dark to just… take our clothes off by the lake.’ The man explains, holding himself from smiling.

‘Fuck, yes you’re right.’ Stiles takes a few steps back so he won’t hit the man when he’s taking off his shirt.

‘Perfect.’ The man says. ‘Just like yesterday.’ The man teases and Stiles hits him in the chest.

‘Auch… that hurts…’ The man fakes a cry and Stiles rolls his eyes, walking past the man and going downstairs, secretly smiling.

‘That really hurt, Stiles.’ The man says going down the stairs.

‘Sure.’ Stiles says nonchalantly.

‘I brought some towels and my phone, just in case.’ The man says, having his backpack in his hand. Stiles nods. He likes this man. Always prepared, just like him.


	9. Chapter 9

They get outside and Stiles lets the man lead the way. It’s dark and they use a lantern to guide themselves through the darkness and through the trees. There are a lot of trees and it feels like they’re walking down. Stiles bumps a few times in the man, leaning onto his bare back and swearing and apologizing. The man just laughs and assures Stiles that it’s ok. Soon, after 20 minutes of walking, they arrive and Stiles exhales and inhales and he’s overwhelmed again, by the landscape. The man turns off the lantern, they don’t need it anymore as the moon light reflects into the huge lake in front of them and creates such a wonderful dim light, enough for them to see each other and see around them in grey tones.

There’s even a pontoon bridge that starts from the rocks and goes a few meters on the lake, it’s not for ships or boats, it’s just for people to have a sit and even jump in the water from it. The man lets the backpack down on the rocks and gets closer to the water. It’s so calming and the sound the small waves do, hitting the rocks, even though there’s no beach or sea, it’s just a huge lake, but outside is breezy and the water moves briefly and everything is relaxing.  Stiles joins the man, both of them having their feet into the water.

‘Wow… this is… beautiful.’ Stiles whispers. He feels like everything will  awake if he talks louder and he feels like if he’s whispering in this moment, everything is going to be more intimate and calming and he likes it like this. Their shoulders briefly touch, and both of them smile.

‘Should we get in?’ The man proposes and he whispers too, following Stiles’ example.

‘That’s why we’re here.’ Stiles whispers and he starts walking further, in the water. The man follows him behind, and with each step, the water grows around them.  Stiles stops when the water is up to his chest and starts swimming a little bit, followed by the man.

‘This is too relaxing.’ Stiles says, breathing hard after they have been swimming for the past 30 minutes. Now they rest a little, still in the water, floating around.

‘Do you like it?’ The man asks.

‘I love it.’ Stiles whispers. Silence again, a beautiful one, where Stiles hears the man breathing and the man hears Stiles breathing and the water moving around them.

Suddenly Stiles freezes and stop floating, he lets his body fall into the water and doesn’t move.

‘I… I…’ The man swims close to him and holds him by his shoulders.

‘Stiles? What’s going on?’

‘You… I feel something…’ Stiles whispers. He’s not scared, but he doesn’t want to end up being eaten by a fish or worse. This would be such a fucked up and shitty death. He didn’t die from bullets and knives and fists and he’ll die because a fish or whatever bit him.

‘Calm down. Where do you feel it?’ The man asks calmly.

‘It’s moving around my waist… around my waist…’ Stiles closes his eyes. The sensation is burning. He never gets scared of bugs, snakes, fish, animals in general, but it’s night, it’s super dark, they’re in the water and something crawls onto his back, he’s scared, he doesn’t have a knife to fight the animal so, the conclusion inside his mind… he’s going to die.

‘Ok, I’ll…. You’re going to feel my hands, ok? Just stay still.’ The man assures and Stiles nods. The man’s hands vanish inside the water and slowly go around Stiles’ waist pulling him closer, their chests and stomachs glued. Stiles breathes hard. He feels his cheeks burn, but he won’t admit it.

‘Stay still.’ The man whispers onto Stiles’ skin and Stiles shivers, his hands go onto the man shoulders, supporting himself onto the man. One of the man’s hands is holding Stiles’ body and the other hand goes behind to catch whatever is going to kill Stiles.

The man smiles widely, holding himself from laughing. He doesn’t let Stiles go, but he takes out from the water the monster which scared Stiles.

‘Stiles, here’s your criminal.’ The man smiles and raises his hand. Stiles looks at it and sighs in disbelief and in embarrassment. His head falls onto the man’s chest.

‘Fuck… fuck it… you think I’m a loser, don’t you?’ Stiles whispers onto the man’s skin, making him push Stiles away from his body, just to look at him.

‘Not at all.’ The man smiles.

‘I can’t believe it’s just a… fucking branch.’ Stiles rushes his fingers through his wet hair and laughs. The man laughs too.

‘The mind works differently when we don’t see what’s touching us.’ The man says. ‘And it’s super dark, I bet you thought you’re going to die.’ The man teases and Stiles splashes him with water.

‘Shut up.’ Stiles laughs. Stiles starts swimming and kind of walking back on the land, while the man follows him, teasing him time to time, by touching Stiles’ waist, scaring the younger man a little bit.

‘Stiles!’ the man says, catching Stiles’ attention before throwing a towel to him.

‘Thanks.’ He says and begins to wrap the towel around his head and then putting it around his shoulders. The man does the same, placing the towel onto his big shoulders then they start walking back to the cabin.

‘It’s getting colder.’ Stiles barely says, his teeth clenching.

‘It might be because we are wet, but you’re right… I think the weather is going to change these days. It feels colder than a few days ago.’ The man explains walking side by side with Stiles.

They get back to the cabin and they decide to take a shower. The man let Stiles to take a shower first, unfortunately only a bathroom was ready so they just take turns. Stiles fought back a little, but the man said again that Stiles is his guest and he should take a shower first. So that’s how they did.

Stiles rushes a little bit, he cleans himself fast and in less than 20 minutes he’s done showering. He goes back to the bedroom, only with a towel wrapped around his waist and he thanks God the man wasn’t in the bedroom yet, to see him naked. He grabs a pair of boxers and when he goes to grab a T-shirt, his attention is caught up by an unknown voice coming from downstairs. He grabs a T-shirt fast and just pulls it on him while going slowly downstairs, trying to hear the conversation between the stranger and the man. He can’t hear properly but he figures it out they talk in English. He goes down a few more stairs and the stranger sees him.

‘Yoo, Der, why didn’t you tell me you brought someone special around? You never bring someone here!’ The stranger exclaims, smirking at the man who is now frowning so badly.

‘Hey…’ Stiles says.

‘Stiles, go upstairs.’ The man commands, looking intensely towards the younger man. Stiles wants to say something, but the look the man gives him makes him go upstairs instantly.

He closes the bedroom door and sits down onto his bed, hands between his legs, he’s thinking, frowning, concentrating, analyzing. It feels like three hours have passed, but there were just a few minutes. The door opens and the man gets inside the bedroom. Stiles doesn’t look at him.

The man leans onto the door and sighs. He screwed up. He doesn’t say anything for a few minutes and when he wants to start talking, Stiles talks first.

‘Derek.’ Stiles looks down at his own hands between his knees.

‘I’m… I’m sorry.’ The man says, rubbing his neck.

‘Javier didn’t fit you. But Derek does.’ Stiles says, looking slowly at Derek.

‘You knew.’ He realizes.

‘I knew Javier wasn’t your name… that’s why I couldn’t call you by your name… and I wished. Now I can.’ Stiles smiles a little.

‘You’re not mad?’ Derek asks frowning.

‘I’m… I’m not.’ Stiles says and indeed he isn’t mad. ‘Go and take a shower, you’re still wet.’ Stiles proposes and Derek nods. He goes to the bathroom. Stiles lets the lamp on and gets into the big bed, lying onto his back. He looks at his phone and decides to check it. Julian sent him a message asking about the man. Stiles writes a message fast, letting Julian know that the man’s name is Javier and he still didn’t find something to clarify the things. Julian sends back a message with encouraging words. Stiles places his phone back on the small table and gets back on lying onto bed, looking at the ceiling. His hands go around the neck of his T-shirt and pulls it onto his face, until under his eyes. He closes his eyes and breathes in. He realized this wasn’t his T-shirt when he looked down at his hands a few minutes ago. It’s too big for himself and it smells… like… _Derek._ He gulps.

Derek comes back in the bedroom, slightly blushing, his ears are red and Stiles looks at him. The man has a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair is all wet. He looks wonderful, Stiles thinks. The man goes in front of the wardrobe and takes out a pair of shorts and a plain T-shirt. Stiles’ eyes don’t leave Derek’s body. Derek senses it, but also he can see Stiles in the mirror, but the man decides to continue with his own things. He takes the T-shirt on him and Stiles bites his lower lip. He can’t believe how perfectly fit is that on him but on Stiles it looks like it could fit two more people inside. Then Derek holds the towel with one hand and with the other he struggles to put on the shorts. Finally after struggling for 5 minutes he’s all dressed up and looks back at Stiles. Stiles’ blushing, he feels like he’s been caught watching porn. Derek smiles embarrassed and walks towards his one size bed, next to the window, face to face with Stiles’ big bed.

‘Should I turn off the lamp?’ Stiles asks. Derek nods and Stiles reaches his hand and turns it off. Both of them make themselves comfortable, each one of them having their own favorite positions to lie down on bed.

Silence again. Stiles doesn’t complain. He also hopes Derek will fall asleep soon, because he knows he will have nightmares again and he knows he won’t be sleeping too much. but it also seems like no one can actually fall asleep.

‘Stiles is my real name… just felt the need to mention it.’ Stiles breaks the silence and he bites his lower lip again. Why did he have to say that?!

‘The man you saw earlier… he helped me… move countries.’ Derek says and Stiles feels the trembling voice. He feels the weakness in Derek’s voice.

‘How long have you been here?’ Stiles asks.

‘Honestly… not too long. Less than 10 years.’ Derek whispers. The tone of his voice lets Stiles know that Derek doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. Stiles swallowed. Stiles doesn’t want to push things. He closes his eyes and sighs. He wants Derek to trust him, but also he wants him to trust Derek completely, but for now… it’s enough…

‘Derek…’ Stiles whispers after a few minutes of silence.

‘Hmm?’ Derek hummed a little.

‘Nothing. I just wanted to call you by your real name.’ Stiles smiles in the dark but then he whines as a pillow flies right on his face.

‘You’re a jerk.’ Derek mumbles.

‘Derek is a beautiful name.’ Stiles whispers, then throws back the pillow but carefully enough to land next to Derek, not on his head. Derek takes back the pillow and hugs it, smiling in it.

‘Good night, Stiles.’

‘Night, Derek.’


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a complete mess.   
> But we finally have Stiles call Derek by his name! <3

As expected, Stiles isn’t able to sleep properly. He stays still, trying to catch Derek’s breathing, when it’s steady and has a soft rhythm, Stiles sighs. He didn’t want to disturb the man, so that’s why he decided to wait for the man to fall asleep. Stiles turns on one side, facing Derek’s window bed. The man is sleeping, facing the window, with the back to Stiles. Stiles is thankful, and yet his eyes linger onto Derek’s back, in the darkness. He replays the whole day in his head, the talks between them, the small touches and he can’t help but smile a little. He doesn’t recognize him in this behavior he shows since he met Derek… but Derek makes him feel… Derek makes him loosen a little bit. Derek makes him smile… Derek makes him jump in excitement and that’s so weird for a 30 years old man, well…. Stiles didn’t enjoy a first love and he isn’t quite experimented in what they call falling in love, because honestly… when he was 15 years old his life crumbled. He had to toughen up. He had to become who he is today, who he has been for the past years, a cold blooded assassin working for the American Government. He felt some butterflies, but he was too young to remember it today. He didn’t have a normal childhood, he had to stop going to the normal phases of growing up. When he was 18 years old, he was far more mature than the kids his age. By the age of 20 he caught the CIA’s attention. He was rebellious, but intelligent. He was full of revenge and desire to find those who destroyed him and everyone he loved, and CIA took advantage of this young Stiles, not too young, but young enough to be shaped in what they wanted…

 

He doesn’t remember when he fell asleep, but he knows, he feels he didn’t sleep too much because he just woke up in cold sweat, his heart beating way too fast and his body trying so hard to stop trembling. He had a nightmare again. Every time he closes his eyes, he has nightmares. But this time, waking up feels different.

‘Hey, hey… it’s ok.’ Stiles tries to focus and he observes Derek sitting onto his bed, a dim light in the room, perhaps it’s because of the early morning. Derek’s voice is accompanied by a hand onto Stiles’ shoulder massaging it, caressing it… soothing him.

‘I… sorry, did I wake you up?’ Stiles asks whispering, his voice is trembling. Fuck it, it was intense. He looks up to meet Derek’s eyes and Derek smiles a little.

‘It’s indeed early, but not too far from when I usually wake up.’ Derek says, still caressing Stiles’ shoulder. The young man closes his eyes and sighs.

‘I’m really sorry.’ Stiles says, now his voice is steady and he takes a breath in. Derek’s eyes fall onto Stiles’ chest and his smile is getting wider than ever. ‘What? Having nightmares seem fun to you?’ Stiles fires back, his cheeks getting a little hotter than earlier. He isn’t mad, he feels… exposed and Derek looking at him like that doesn’t help him a lot. Derek’s hand which was caressing Stiles’ shoulder falls down onto Stiles’ chest, grabbing the material.

‘You know… this is mine.’ Derek whispers. Stiles feels like dying. He doesn’t understand how Derek makes him feel like this. He can understand and he can solve every single thing, he can calculate the wind speed and the perfect trajectory of the bullet. But he can’t figure out what’s going on with Derek that makes him feel like this, innocent and shy, fuck it, he never felt like this.

‘You want it back?’ Stiles teases and he tries to take it off. Derek stops him, smirking.

‘No… not yet. You… you look good in it.’ Derek answers and he gets up from Stiles’ bed. Stiles feels the loss of a huge body next to him. He doesn’t say anything.

‘It’s almost 6.’ Derek informs looking at his phone. Stiles gets up too and stretches, Derek looks at him in awe.

‘Well, are you planning to go back to sleep?’ Stiles asks.

‘Not really…’ Derek scratches the back of his head. Stiles is looking at him with his head titled, Derek smiles seeing him like that.

‘Don’t tell me you wake up around this time.’ Stiles says and Derek tries so hard not to tell him how cute he is. He doesn’t know how a 30 years old man would react if he’d be called cute.

‘I…’ Derek makes a weird face, eyebrows raised and shoulders too and Stiles gets closer. That face makes him want to hug Derek. He holds himself from that. He stops walking. He smiles bitterly. He gulps before talking.

‘You’re something…’ Stiles can only say. Derek bites his lower lip, looking at Stiles, head to toe. Again Stiles feels exposed and he blushes a little. ‘What is it this time?’ He says.

‘Nothing.’ Stiles rolls his eyes and smiles at the answer, sure… nothing.

 

They decide that there’s no room for sleep anymore. Also Derek wanted to ask Stiles about his nightmares, but he postponed for later. He wants to know more about it and actually… Stiles screamed in his sleep, that awoke Derek, the cries of Stiles. He’d lie if he’d say he wasn’t frightened… because he knows how it feels to have nightmares too.

Derek leaves Stiles to dress up and goes down in the kitchen preparing coffee and some sandwiches to eat on their way. He wants to show Stiles the valley in the morning, early, because it’s so beautiful in the morning sunlight, Derek knows Stiles will calm down and relax seeing it.

‘You’ve made coffee!’ Stiles exclaims and Derek hands him a mug, humming.

‘I’ve made something to eat on our way.’ Derek replies and places the box with the sandwiches in his backpack.

‘Where are we going?’ Stiles asks, having his eyes closed enjoying the coffee.

‘I’ll show you the valley and actually, the vineyard.’ Derek explains, drinking from his own mug.

‘Oh, it’ll be awesome!’ Stiles says and he smiles at Derek.

They drink their coffee and they get out of the cabin. Derek is carrying the backpack and Stiles wanted to take his own too, but Derek convinced him not to, it’s enough room in his bag and also Stiles should enjoy the walk, not carrying something heavy in his back. Stiles appreciates it.  Stiles decided to stop bringing guns on their walks, but he took a knife, this time Derek knows about it because Stiles explained to him he carries it around if they need it. Derek didn’t question it and just nodded.  

They walked through a lot of trees for almost 15 minutes, while they ate the delicious sandwiches Derek has prepared. The nature is overwhelming, green everywhere, birds singing and Stiles tried to convince Derek that he saw an actual deer, but Derek tried to convince him that a deer can’t actually live around here. Derek also wanted to tell Stiles that his eyes look just like a deer’s eyes, big, honey colored, shining eyes, but he couldn’t… yet.

They soon arrived in an open space, a huge valley and Stiles stopped walking.

‘Wow…. Derek…’ Stiles gasps. Derek’s body shakes a little, hearing his real name being said by Stiles.

‘I know… it’s breath taking, right?’ Derek looks at the vineyard and indeed, he loves this the most. He loves nature and he loves this valley and also he loves riding his friend’s horses around this place because the area is full of wonderful routes, and the mountains can be seen and it’s wonderful. Speaking of his friend, there he is, on a beautiful black horse, riding towards the two men.

‘What? A horse?’ Stiles whispers towards Derek. Derek can’t help but smile.

‘Yo, Fabio!’ Derek yells and waves at the man. The man gets down from his horse.

‘Guys, guys, hello!’ The man greets and Stiles is mesmerized. The man is perhaps older than them, around 45 years old, he has beard just like Derek, but much more grown out. He wears a cowboy hat, tight jeans, big boots and a black T-shirt. His voice is deep and somehow dirty, Stiles thinks, but pleasing to hear. He’s well done, muscles everywhere and Stiles thinks those muscles are from the tough work he’s doing around this valley to look this good. Also his legs are amazingly well built, thanks to riding, Stiles thinks.

‘Fabio, this is Stiles.’ Derek says.

‘Oh, Stiles! The cutie from last night.’ Fabio greets, smiling. He reaches his hand out and Stiles grabs it.

‘Nice meeting you… officially.’ Stiles says, shaking hands with Fabio.

‘Nice to meet you, cutie. I’m Fabio, perhaps the hottest man around here.’ Fabio winks. Stiles feels gross… and he’s getting a little angry. Being called ‘cutie’ by this man feels wrong. He doesn’t enjoy it. He wants to snap and crushes his bones. Derek senses the tension coming from Stiles’ body next to him.

‘Fabio, stop being gross, ok? Don’t call him cutie. Also should I tell your man that you’re flirting with my… friend?’ Derek asks, having his arms crossed. Fabio frowns.

‘Damn you, Derek. It’s not my fault that when you decide to finally bring someone around here, it’s a beautiful guy.’ The man says and he goes back on his horse. The man left as soon as he arrived. Stiles looks at Derek.

‘I… am I cute?’ Stiles frowns, joking. Derek laughs and grabs his arm and drags the man after him through the vineyard.

‘Actually, when you’re not frowning, when you look like you don’t want to kill someone, you might be cute.’ Derek explains as they walk slowly through the grape vines.

‘Anyways… this Fabio… is he…’

‘Yes, he’s gay. He’s actually married.’ Derek says.

‘Wow…’ Stiles exclaims.

‘It’s… it’s wrong that he’s…’  Derek starts saying and Stiles panics, Derek got it all wrong.

‘Oh, oh no no. Derek, no. I’m just surprised that he’s married. I mean he looks amazing, and maybe he’s… a great man too, but he’s…. _gross_.’ Stiles whispers the last word and Derek laughs so damn hard.

‘Fabio is amazing. Yes, he’s kind of gross sometimes, and a pervert, but he’s honest and reliable actually. He helped me a lot.’ Derek says, taking some grapes from the vines and holding a grape in front of Stiles’ lips. Stiles frowns. ‘Taste it, you won’t regret it.’ Derek pushes the fruit into Stiles’ mouth.

‘They’re really good.’ Stiles says, enjoying the grapes.

‘We should grab some more. I think… it’ll be a great snack later.’ Derek says embarrassed. He wants to propose to Stiles to watch a movie or something, together, relaxing, but he’s really nervous.

‘Sure, great!’ Stiles says and Derek takes out the box in which were the sandwiches and they start putting grapes in it. 

‘Did I… upset you when I said Fabio is gross? I was joking, ok? He’s nice.’ Stiles starts talking. He doesn’t want to hurt Derek… in any way. And he feels stupid for feeling bad like this, but Derek is someone… that makes him feel things and act in a certain way and it seems like Stiles can’t control himself when it comes to Derek, not that much.

‘Don’t worry.’ Derek smiles. 

‘On the other hand… you didn’t lie about me being the first person to bring here.’ Stiles finds himself blurting this out and he frowns. Jesus, he feels stupid again, but… he really can’t help it…

‘Indeed.’ Derek says, biting his lower lip. ‘I didn’t lie about it.’ They smile.

Derek keeps on showing Stiles all the secrets of this valley, he even takes Stiles to this river and shows him the fish. He tells the younger man that he likes to fish here and it relaxes him. Stiles tells him that the last time he went fishing was when he was 10 years old… with his dad. Derek saw the sorrow in Stiles’ eyes and didn’t ask more about his dad, or about family. They have plenty of time to know more about each other and Derek wants to hear it from Stiles when he feels safe enough around him.


	11. Chapter 11

The clock shows 3pm and they decide to go back to the cabin and eat something. Derek prepares a fast meal, some fried vegetables and fries with boiled eggs and a fresh salad, a weird combination of food, but it tastes amazing and Stiles enjoys it so much. He thinks that in these past few days, since he met Derek, he ate more cooked meals than he ate in his entire life since he lost everything. They enjoy the food, smiling and then they take turns to take a shower. The walk to the valley was exhausting and they loved it, but they came back home drained and sweating. It’s almost 6pm when they finally can rest properly. Stiles is in the kitchen placing water bottles and wine in the fridge and Derek prepares some pillows on the coach in the living room.

‘Stiles…’ Derek calls from the living room.

‘Wait!’ Stiles yells back. His heart skips a beat when he realizes what they’re doing, what is going on, what’s happening. This feels familiar, this feels comfortable and safe and Stiles is overwhelmed… again, he feels tears building up, but he stops them.

‘Yes, what’s up?’ Stiles asks, appearing in the living room, hands on his hips, looking at Derek who freezes. Stiles caught him in a weird position, Derek is lying on the floor, butt up in the air, as he’s trying to find something under the couch.

‘Derek?’

‘Uhm… this is embarrassing.’ Derek says. Stiles bites a smile.

‘Actually… you have a nice ass.’ Stiles blurts out and he covers his mouth while Derek is so surprised that he tries to rush up and he ends up hitting his head on the couch arm and also he almost dies slipping, thanks god he falls on the couch.  They both burst out in laughter.

‘You almost died.’

‘That’s bad for a criminal, right?’ Derek teases, still embarrassed.

‘What were you doing down there?’

‘I’ve lost something… the… the remote control.’ Derek stammers and Stiles catches it. Derek lies, but Stiles thinks he has a good reason, again, so he stops questioning it, even though he clearly sees the remote control on the table, right in front of the TV.

‘So…?’ Stiles asks. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I… can we… would you like a movie?’ Derek asks and he frowns. Stiles laughs.

‘If I want a movie?’ Stiles teases.

‘Do you want to watch a movie?’ Derek asks again, rolling his eyes. Stiles smiles.

‘It depends on what kind of movie.’ Stiles replies and raises an eyebrow. Actually it doesn’t matter for Stiles. He never watches movies, TV shows, he does listen to music time to time, it calms him.

‘It’s… I don’t know. We can search for something and…’ Derek says.

‘Sure. Let’s see.’ Stiles goes and sits down next to Derek on the couch. Derek turns on his laptop and places it on the wooden table in front of them. They keep on searching for minutes and they finally settle on watching Split, a movie with James McAvoy. Stiles doesn’t know who that actor is but Derek explains to him and also he told Stiles that one of his little sisters was obsessed with X-men and she loved the movies. Stiles was surprised when he found out that Derek has sisters, but he felt Derek’s sadness in his voice so he didn’t ask more… again.

‘I’m going to grab some grapes and… beer or…?’ Stiles asks, getting up.

‘Actually… I’m craving some orange juice. It’s in the fridge somewhere.’ Derek explains and Stiles nods. He rushes to the kitchen and comes back as fast as he can. Derek smiles at him and Stiles almost stumbles on his own feet.

They make themselves comfortable enough on the couch, a decent amount of space between their bodies, each one of them having their pillow to hug or just to rest on them and Derek made sure to bring a thin blanket just in case.

They’re 20 minutes in the movie, and outside the trees start to move fast. Stiles trembles a little, sensing the change in temperature. Derek presses pause to the movie and gets up to look outside. It got darker, but the sky can be seen and the trees.

‘It seems like there’s going to be a storm.’ Derek observes. Stiles gets up too, but he takes the thin blanket with him, wrapping himself in it, going to the window.

‘Wow… was that a lightning?’ He whispers.

‘Yes, it was. Those clouds are coming this way.’ Derek says. ‘I need to move the car from the trees area. As much as I love this place… you’ll kill me if we’d remain blocked here.’ Derek smiles and looks at Stiles.

‘Stop it, I won’t…’ Stiles whispers. Derek places his hands on Stiles’ sides and grabs the blanket and pulls it, making it tighter around Stiles.

‘I’m going out.’ Derek says laughing.

‘Jerk.’ Stiles mumbles and follows Derek.

‘But you like this jerk.’ Derek yells.

‘Fuck you.’ Stiles says smiling. Soon his smile fades as he’s hit by the wind outside. He barely can hold himself on his feet. He looks towards Derek who is struggling too, to walk to the car.

‘Do you guys have tornadoes around here?’ Stiles yells. Derek motions him ‘no’ as he gets in the car and starts the engine. He parks it in an open space where nothing can fall on it.

‘It’s pretty serious.’ Derek says, breathing hard as they go back inside, locking the doors and the windows.

‘So our movie night is ruined.’ Stiles says.

‘Not really.’ Derek raises an eyebrow. ‘Why would it be ruined?’

‘You’re right.’ Stiles says going back on the couch. Derek sits down too, pressing play.

‘Are you afraid of storms?’ Derek asks, obviously not caring too much about the movie.

‘Me? No.’ Stiles answers, not looking towards Derek.

‘You are.’ Stiles sighs. He isn’t afraid of storms, Jesus Christ. He’s afraid of the memories he has.

‘What about you? You looked like a lost puppy while seeing the clouds approaching!’ Stiles fires back, changing his sitting position, now hugging his knees. He looks funny.

‘Lost puppy?’ Derek asks.

‘Yes. Your big eyes and those ears… it helps you look like a puppy.’ Stiles whispers.

‘An old puppy.’ Derek jokes.

‘Shut up.’ Stiles says.

They both get startled when a thunder shakes the windows and breaks the silence.

‘Fuck it, it’s getting closer.’ Derek says.

They try following the movie plot, but they can’t focus too well as the wind is getting more furiously fast and the lightning is scary as fuck and not to mention the high number of decibels the thunders produce, god damn it. The last straw is when the power goes out. They have their lights on in the kitchen. And they gasp when they’re left in total darkness, only a dim light coming from the computer screen, and of course from the lightings.

‘The power’s off.’ Stiles says. Derek laughs.

‘Thanks, I didn’t even notice.’ Derek teases.

‘Can we…’

‘Yes.’ Derek answers way too fast. And what follows is something embarrassingly cute. Stiles is about to get up when he feels Derek getting closer to him, trying to somehow hugging the younger man. Stiles jerks to the touch and both of them freeze.

‘What are you doing?’ Stiles asks, serious.

‘I thought…’ Derek says then he realizes. ‘I’m so sorry…’ He takes his hands away and gets up. ‘Sorry. I’m really… I’m sorry.’ Derek gulps.

Stiles gets up and scratches the back of his neck nervously. Derek wanted to… hug him? To hold him? Stiles is startled. He doesn’t remember the last time someone wanted to hold him out of nowhere. Stiles wanted to say to Derek to go upstairs in their beds, but it seems like Derek’s thoughts were others. Stiles breathes heavily. His heart is beating fast.

‘I wanted to… tell you to go upstairs… in our beds.’ Stiles explains, embarrassed too.

‘Sure. Yes, sure.’ Derek bites his lower lip, nervously. He screwed up again. He turns off the laptop and starts walking. ‘Follow me.’ Derek says and Stiles does it, it’s too dark and Derek knows this house perfectly, after all he built it from scratch. They go upstairs and Stiles jumps in his bed, pulling the blanket on him. Derek, on the other hand, carefully sits on his bed, feeling uncomfortable, but he lies down on his back in the end. When the storm gets wilder, he turns his back to the window. Stiles is observing him. Stiles sees that Derek is troubled and… he feels bad. Because he wanted to feel Derek’s arms around him… oh Lord, how much he wants it… but also he was scared too, deep inside. He’s scared. He’s scared of so many things when it comes to other humans.


End file.
